Deo. B, 1896.J 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
448 
The game wardens will then be changed to health in- 
pppctors to prevent camp refuse from breeding a typhoid 
pestilPDCf. ^ 
At that time merry bsnds of tourists will sally from 
Glenwood and Colorsdo Springs to hunt the cap like the 
spf^rtsmen of TarapcoD. 
Eatt'rprieing ritizpna can then cut crops of oats green in 
October near the hiebept peaks if the snow be not too 
deep, and a railroad will run up every corsidprahlp eulch 
into the hands of a receiver. H, Q. DULoa. 
MUCK-A-MUCKS. 
Dekver, Colo , Nov. 20 —Editor Forest and Stream: 
In your issue of O^t. 2i I find a lettfr from Mr John 
Mowat showing some tf'mper becau'e a certain Bcston 
gentleman had rpfprrfd to certain Canadians as "hij>h 
muck-a-mucks," Ynu confess inability to explain the 
titl^ or the origin of the rff ^nsive word. 
Fifty or sevfn^v-five years sgo there was constructed 
on the N irth^rn Pacific foast a common language known 
as the ' Chinook j rgnn," for convenience in trading with 
the many Indian tribes of that region. Exactly whn was 
the inventor of it I cannot tfU, but it was made up of 
words, more or less exact, from many languapes, civil- 
ized and savage, in which the language of thp Cninook 
Indians dcubtlefs predominated, The Chinooks occupied 
the coast immediately north of the mouth of the Colum- 
bia R'ver and were the first native people with whom 
tradtr-» who arrived in ships cam« in contact — hence, 
probably, the foundation of the new language that was 
built up. It was a curious fact that, while there were a 
great many tribes or remnants of tribes living in close 
proximity, they seemed to have no knowledge of each 
other's language. For instance, when I first knew them, 
there were seven Indian viilagps clustered around the 
great falls of the Willamette River, living mainly upon 
the salmon they caught at the foot of the falls, each hav- 
ing a distinct language which was not understood by any 
of the others; but all conUi speak the C inook jargon, 
and it was so all throuph the country. The white peo- 
ple had also to learn the language in order to converse 
with their Indian neighbors, and it was, in fact, largely 
used by all people and at all times, in business and oDher- 
wiae. I think it comprised only 546 words and was not 
diflScult to learn. 
One of its words in most common use was "muck-a- 
muck," and it meant food, or anything that could be con- 
verted into food, except salmon. Salmon was so em- 
phatically the stfcff of life with those people that it was 
not included in the common term "muck-a-muck," but wss 
always distinguished bv its proper name. "Hi-yu" 
meant plenty. "Ha-lc" meatt scarcity or nothing. 
"Hi yu muck-a-muck" signified plenty to eat of common 
food. "Hi-yu muck-a-muck, ha-lo salmon" meant a suf- 
ficiency of ordinary fuppliPs, but no salmon, and conse- 
quently a rather restricted barqiet. ' Hi-lo muck-a- 
muck, ha-lo salmon" mennt utter destituti n at the time 
and a strong presumption of famine near at hand. 
In later years I have heard the term "high muck-a- 
muck" used occasionally, generally as a sneer, or a term 
of derision, applied to some one who was blessed with a 
superabundance of self esteem — a presumptuous, "stuck- 
up" personage. L presume it was in this sense Mr. Mowat 
understood the term to be used. Whether or not it has 
come from the C i inook j irgnn to the peiple I have heard 
use it in recent years I cannot tell, but presume it did not. 
Your suggestion that it may have grown from the Algon- 
quin word mogquomp mny be correct. Th« first invasion 
of the Oregon country by white men, in suffl nent numbers 
to be sensibly felt, was by Hudson Bay Fur Compiny em- 
ployees, who went from the Uanadas and so on west to the 
Columbia, and down that river to its mouth. Tlie com- 
pany's supplies were rpceived direct from England by 
ships that entered the C jlumbia, and their people proba- 
bly had much to do with framing the ' Chinook j irgon." 
Its term of distinction was "Ty-ee," and a very great man 
was "Hy-as Ty-ee," or "Hy-as B js-ton Ty ep." In fact, in 
the earlier jears all United States men were "Boston 
Ty-ees." Sj you will s e that B iston attained fame 
among the Chinooks and their neighbors at a very early 
day. This does not tell where the word "muck-a-muck" 
came from, but I believe it will do no great harm to allow 
Mr. Mowat's charge to rest where he has nlac d it — upon 
Boston, W. N. Byers. 
ADIRONDACK BEAVER. 
Editor Forest and Stream: 
1 notice in this week's issue of your paper an article on 
Adirondack beaver, and I am pleased to be able to con- 
tribute a few facts which came under my own obsf rva- 
vatiou this year, thinking they may be of interest to 
others, 
E^rly in June I spent a day or two at Lake Madawaska, 
which is in Franklin com ty, between Brandon and St. 
Regis Falls. This lake is fed by a small stream known 
as the Q xebec Brook, and I was paddled up it several 
miles by Jimmy E oles, a guide at Joe Alfred's little 
hotel at Madawjiska. On the way d >wn from a very 
euccessful day's fibbing, Eccles asked me if I would like 
to see where beaver bad been working, and on receiving 
an emphatic reply in the t fKrmative he put me ashore, 
and I saw whertj a considerable number of small silver 
poplars had been gnawed ofif about 2 ft. from the ground. 
Tde workings were not fresh, having been made lastyear, 
I should say, and there was no sign of any dam. Eccles 
said, however, that there were similar workings on the 
other side of the brook, which was qiite wite at this 
point. While there we saw a hedgehog in the brush, 
and killed him with a club, which proved to be, upon 
examination, a pifce of one of the popldr^ the beaver had 
cut, the chisel-like marks of bis teeth plainly showing 
upon it. I regretted afterward that I had not Drought a 
samplp of this work out with me, but later in the season 
I foutid more of it. 
Tne last of August, while fishing on the middle branch 
of the So Regis R ver, my guide Martin c illed my atten- 
tion to some stubs from 1 to 6io. in diami t^r which the 
beaver bad left standing, after having dragged the tops 
to the water, presumably, as they were nowhere to be 
seen. The signs were old, but in following up a small 
«t3:eG»a which came into the river near b^ I came acroes 
some comparatively fresh workings, the stumps being still 
green ard the cuts or tooth m ^rfts almost new— probably 
having been made late in the spring. M'rtin thought 
thprp mu-»t be a small familr of beaver in the immediate 
vicini*^v — probably further up the little stream we were 
on. He cut cflf one of the stumps, which I brought home 
with me. 
From these evidenops and reports I got from several 
guides who do more or less trapping in the winter, I am 
convinced that there are a good many beaver in the Adi- 
rondacks, and that under the present protective law they 
will "increase and multip'y and replenish the earth." I 
am told, however, that many of thpm are solitary in their 
habits and are called ' b'cheler" beaver, living like 
musk rats in the river banks instead of building houses, 
and showing no ili-pisition to build dams 
Let us hop" that this intereFting nnimal will not become 
extinct in our State, and that the law looking to his pres- 
ervation was passed in time to save the Bcatt^nd rem- 
nants of his tribe. Aethur F. Rioe. 
DO B1RD3 HIBERNATE? 
Editor Forest and Stream: 
In the rich table of contents furnished us in FOREST 
AND StrE'M for thp 7.h in«t. I not e d particular y a brief 
article entitled 'Q ieer Wa>8 of B rddom " I nciticed 
this article particular'y becausp it mooted one or two 
points in birddam that I thought had been set at rest. Ah 
to one of these points I w iah to speak. I did not imagine 
that it was the belief of any onn in these days that any 
sp' cies of birds hibernated by burying themselves in the 
mud. I know it was an ancient belief in regard to swal- 
lows. Gilbert White, of Skiborne, observed that myriads 
of birds of the swallow kind in the autumn forsook the 
chimneys and houses and roosted at night in the osier 
beds along the Thames. "This resorting towar l that ele- 
ment," says he, "at that season of the year seems to give 
some countenance to the northern opinion (strange as it 
is) of their rf'tiring under water. A Svedish naturalist is 
so much p<-rfUHded of that fact that he talks, in his *Cil- 
endar of Fh ra,' as familia'lv of the swallows going under 
water in the beginning of September as he would of his 
poultry going to rot st a little befi re sunset." It is evident 
from bis language here that White d'd not entertain this 
opinion. On the other hand, the celebrated Dr, Johnson 
believed that they did so hibernate. His biographer, Bjs- 
well, reports him as eaying: "Swallows certainly sleep all 
the winter. A number of them conglobulate togethfr by 
flying round and round, and then all in a bee-p throw 
thfmselves under water and lie in the bed of a river." 
Here we have the very modus operandi. Johnson, how- 
ever, was not a naturalist, and hie view was no doubtonly 
what Sir Thomas Browne would have termed one of the 
"vulgar errors" of his time. What are the facts in the 
case? Who has sufficient data to sp^ak definitely upon 
this matter and settle this important point in natuml his- 
torj? T. J. CHdPMAN. 
[There is a wide literature of the swallow hibernation 
belief, but it is hardly worth while to discuss the subj ct, 
Tae swallow goes south for the winter with other migrat- 
ing species; its migration is as fully observed, understood 
and recorded in the ornithologies as that of other birds.] 
NEW EDITION OF COUES'S KEY. 
Ornithologists will be glad to learn that a new edi- 
tion of Ooues's "K^y to North American Blrd^,■' largply 
rewritten, and brought up to date, is to be issued before 
long. The volume hes a history dating back more than 
twenty years, and has done much toward the making of 
the younger generation of North American ornitholo- 
gists. 
The "Key" was originally published at Silem, Masg., in 
187<i, under copyright of F. W. Putnam and E liott 
Cjues. This was purchased a few yearj later by E^tes & 
Lauriat, of Bwton, who brought out the second edition 
in 1884, entirely rewritten, and in fact a diflf-^rent book, 
retaining the old name, but having incorporated with it 
Coues's "Field Ornithology of 18T4." 
This second edition of 1881 has been repeatedly reissued, 
and the third edition (1887) contained a new appendix, 
and the fourth edition (18'Ji)) another new appandix. 
Oaherwisa all the editions since 1884, inclusive, havabfen 
printed ir jm the same pUtes, and ace id^intical in every- 
thing but the appendixes. 
Suicrt the founding of the A O U in 1383 the advxnce 
in A;uerican ornithol<>gy has been u prect«ieiited, »nii the 
'K^y" is no I jnger ad q i*te to the prop r presentation of 
the case. That it may resume the honorable place it lonaj 
held Dr. Coues has undertaken a thorough revision of the 
whole work, which will now be rtsat and very largely 
rewritten. The substance of the two appendixes will of 
course be incorporated in the main text, and many other 
additions are to be made of the spacies and subspecies de- 
scribed since 18U0. The nomenoiature will be c'oaely coa- 
formed to that ut the latest edition of the A. O, U. "Check 
List,' 189.) 
Dr. Coues writes: "I have been since 1883 chairman of 
the committee on classific ition and nomend iture which 
produced both the "Check Lists,' lo8t5 and 1895, and must 
now take my own dose of tne medicine we nave so lung 
been brewing. One reason I had for not sooner revising 
the names in the K-y' was the incessmt changes they 
were undergoing; but; now that we have reached a toler- 
ably settled Hta.te of aflfairs, from which there will prob- 
ably be little departure for the next ten yearB, I feel that 
the ti ne has come for the long contemplated revision of 
the 'Kay' in accordanc3 with the new nomenclature we 
have adopted. 1 am diligently at work now, the pub- 
lisher is ready to take copy as soon as I cin furnish it, 
and we hope to be out in a few months. Besides the 
changes of names, and a very thorough scrutiny of the 
text for all requisite additions or correctiims, the new 
edition will ba embellished with a large number of new 
cuts, and some of the old ones will be retired from duty 
alter long and faithful service." 
Notwithstanding the large amount of new matter which 
will bd introduced, Dr, Couts hopes to keep the bulk of 
the volume down, so that it will not much exceed that of 
the former editions; ami it will no doubt be sold at the 
former price, $7 50, 
The FoBEST AND Stream is put to preaa eaeh loeek on Tuetday 
Oorrespondenw intended for publication thxmld reach u» at the 
latest bii Monday, and aa muich eartier m praeHctMie. 
"Game Birds of North America." 
TiiR "Gimp, Birds of North America, a D^^crpHve 
Ch' rk L-st, * is thp title of a small book publi'i'ie'1 by Bi-ad- 
lee Whidden, and prepared by Mr. Frank E Bates. The 
book is in mnnvreFp^cts a useful one, for its s'z^ makes it 
handy to carry in the pocket, and its descriptions, while 
wholly free from technicality, should be snfficient to 
enable the ppnrtsman in most cis s to determine to what 
sppcips the bird he shoots may belong. Something of this 
sort has long been nppded, a volume giving little more 
than the name, descr'ption and range of our xame birds, 
and which is so small and light that the gunner may 
carry it about with him. 
In his intr idnctnry note Mr. Bit^s acknowledges the 
difficulty of satisfactorily deflnin? the term game bird. 
Toe conclusion which he reachps is that a game bird is 
"One suitable for food, and which is habitually pursued 
by man for sport, demanding skill and dexterity for its 
captura." N )twithBtanding this definition, he includes 
among his game birds the loon and the mergansers, but 
explains that those birds are not commonly accepted as 
game, and hp marks them «nd others with a star to indi- 
cate this doubt as to their position. II * puts the same 
mar'? beforp the emp' ror goose, abou which we know 
nothing, and before th ^ cranp. the "•allinulesand the coot, 
but leaves thp remainder of the 124 species included in 
tbp volume without this mark. 
The book is divided into three sections: "Water Birds," 
incluriina: loons, ducks, jjeese and sw^ans; "Wadprs," in- 
cluding cranps, raiM and the group CDmmonly known as 
"shore bird- ;" and "Land Birds," including the partridges, 
grouse, wild turkey and the passenger pigeon. 
The book is sparsely illustrated with outline cuts of 
heads, feet and bills of somp sppcies, and is preceded by 
two pages devoted to a kpy to identification of game 
birds, the Water and M irsh Birds bein placed in one 
section and the Land Birds in nnother. Various charac- 
ters are given by which the different genera and species 
mav be determined. 
While the book mafcps no pretpnse to soientifiT stand- 
ing, and while some of its desor p'-aons Ipave much to be 
desired, yet b»cauge of its handiness, and because it gives 
the names, descriptions and. vpry roughly, the range of 
some of our game birds, th^? volume is likply to prove 
useful to a large class of men who uie the gun. 
Miss Merriam's California Bird Notes. 
The charm of Miss Florence A. Merriam's writings is 
well known toall those who have read her "BirdsTbrough 
an Opera Glas^" and her "Summer in a Mormon Village," 
as well as hersbortpr pan^rs, which n'^ver appeared in 
more permanent furm, Hjr last volump, published by 
H ughton, Mffl n & Oo., she calls "A Birding on a 
Bronco." 
Ic contains notes taken in Southern California from 
March to May, 1839, and from March to July, 1894; the 
particular locality being at the foat of the mountains 
thirty-five miles north of S m Diego, and twelve miles 
from the Pacifis Ojean. These notes were made alto- 
gether from observations conducted through an opera 
glass. They are extremely interesting, and are told in a 
very happy style. Miss Merriam is always fully in sym- 
pvthy with nature, and her training as an observer has 
been so thorough that little goes on about her that escapes 
her eyes and ears. 
From her ranch home Miss Merriam made excursions 
on an old and steady bronco, with the special purpose of 
observing the birds; and the result is this volume of 226 
piges, charmingly illustrated by spirited p°n drawings 
made by Louis Agass z Fuertes, as well as by many half- 
tone illustrations from Miss Merriam's camera, Mr. 
Fuertes's drawings are extremely good. He seems to 
catch thp f p rit of the birds, and there is life in all his 
work. Evon the heads of the birds have about them the 
tru-^ bird expression. 
Miss Merriam is doing a most excellent work in thus 
introducing to p 5 ople, who themselves have no opportu- 
nity for observation, the feathered friends that she loves so 
well ; and she seems to be equally at home whether she 
deals with the lighter and more attractive work of the 
student of ornithology, or marshals facts or figures to 
support her statements as to the economic value of birds. 
Melanoiic Rattlesnakes. 
Editor Forest and Stream: 
Nouciag the inq liry o D,-, A 8 Pickard for informa- 
tion as to the ■ xisienc of the melanotic variety of our 
rattl'-rs in d ;ff r-^nn localitips induces me to say that in 
the mountiins of Vl^^inia, ray native State, black rattlers 
are very common, so much so in some localities that 
the mountain people b lieve the black ones to be the 
female sex. The color of these dark snakes is as glossy 
black as that of the blacksnake, and while the variety 
may have originated in individual melanism, there i« no 
doubt that the pacuUarity has bacome fixed by heredity 
and breeds tru). Tae common hauled rattler of the 
mountains is the only species I have ever seen showing 
melanotic coloring. la the common blowing viper 
melanism is rather common as an individual peculiarity, 
but I have never seen a melanotic specimen of any other 
species of snake. In the m )untain rattlers it is certainly 
not an individual peculiarity, but a true varietal distinc- 
ti >n. 
S imething of the same sort is to be observed among 
f quirrels. I never saw a black spacimen in Virginia or 
M .ryland, whereas in central L luisiana the gray Fqairrel 
is almost replaced by a black variety not specifically dis- 
tinct from the common gray, I have often wondered 
that phenomena 3 ) striking appear to hava been passed 
unnoticed by our writers on natural history, as noted by 
Dr. Packard in reference to the melanism so common in 
tne mountain r ittlesnakes. I think I can hardly be mis- 
taken in supp jsing that in some localities the peculiarity 
has been fixed by heredity and become a true varietal dis- 
tinction. M. G, Ellzey, M.D. 
CUMBBHSTONi;, Md. 
Editor Forest and Stream: 
Cou corning black r^ttleenakee, about which Dr. Pack- 
ard asiis. I will saj : P rhaps ah the rattlers in the Cats- 
kill Mjuntains i>re rot black, but all that I have seen 
there were quite a bright, gloKsy black. I have also seen 
black rattlers in the mountains of Pike county, Pa.| 
which are the northern end of the Blue Rfdge. 
F&so Maibbk. 
